16
Viper Drop
Tam had split his special ops platoon into two sections for this mission. He would lead one to Gallion and Lt. Hawkh would take the other one to Mapi. These were the only two air basis on Lamaine Shane. Lt. Hawkh had served at Mapi briefly while he was in the TGA before the civil war erupted, so it made sense for him to go there. The operation only required two soldiers to actually get onto the base. One to handle the contaminant and the other to stand watch and assist as needed.
The special ops team had three jumpers and Digger. This meant one team could jump the perimeter fence but the other would have to go beneath it. Lt. Hawkh elected to take Digger to Mapi as the ground there was predominantly clay, while the terrain at Gallion was mainly rock and sand. The plan was to find a secluded part of the perimeter, dig a tunnel under the fence and then proceed to the fuel storage units.
Before dawn the copter landed a kylod from the perimeter of the base. Lt. Hawkh and his men hiked toward the fence under cover of darkness. When they reached the fence Lt. Hawkh bent down and examined the soil.
“Okay, Digger. It’s up to you now.”
“No, problem, sir,” he replied and began taking of his jacket and boots. “Just give me a few tiks.”
Lt. Hawkh nodded and watched him as he bent down and scooped out a handful of dirt like it was sand on the beach. Soon dirt and debris started to fly. Soldiers scrambled out of the way of the deluge of earth as Digger tunneled effortlessly under the fence. Soon his body disappeared and the dirt began to cave in on the other side of the fence. When the ground gave way, Digger pulled himself out, looked back, and gave his comrades a dirty grin.
“All right,” Lt. Hawkh said, shaking his head with admiration. “Under the fence. Let’s go.”
The rest of the platoon scrambled under the fence and followed Lt. Hawkh to the fuel storage area. When they were in place behind an equipment shed, two soldiers changed into workmen’s uniforms and proceeded to the targeted fuel storage tank.
The tank was guarded by two sentries and there were several soldiers monitoring the flow of fuel in and out of the tanks. It had been decided the best place to introduce the contaminant was on a maintenance platform behind the tank, since it would be out of view of the sentries and workers monitoring operations.
Their plan was to drill a small hole into the tank and inject the contaminant. This required climbing the ladder on the side of the tank leading to the maintenance platform. The two risks were that they’d be spotted climbing up the side of the tank or someone might hear them drilling. The drilling would only take a few tiks so they hoped it wouldn’t be noticed. If they were noticed the rest of the platoon was ready to cover them while they retreated.
The two disguised soldiers sneaked around the back of the tank and began climbing. When they had climbed high enough they stopped and one stood watch while the other began drilling. The sound of the drill was much louder than they had expected and the two sentries immediately came around the tank and looked up at the two workers.
“Who goes there!”
“Hopsa Welders. Here to fix the ladder,” one of the disguised workers replied while the other one continued to drill.
“We weren’t informed of this.”
He shrugged. “Yes. Sorry. We were supposed to do it last segment, but we’ve been very busy.”
Lt. Hawkh signaled for two of his platoon members to target the sentries. He didn’t want to kill them but if they tried to interfere with the operation there would be no choice. The drill suddenly broke through the tank’s shell and there was a distinct splashing noise. The mutant soldier quickly injected the contaminant into the tank and stood up.
“What did you do?” the sentry demanded.
There were two silent laser shots and the sentries dropped to the ground. The two mutant soldiers climbed quickly down the ladder and began running toward the equipment shed. A worker witnessing their retreat sounded an alarm. Lt. Hawkh signaled for his men to retreat. Soon they were sprinting toward the fence where they had entered the base. Two sentries on hyper bikes came out of nowhere and cut them off. The platoon hit the dirt and began firing at the sentries. Lt. Hawkh looked behind and saw two more sentries on hyper bikes coming at them. Suddenly, Digger popped up from behind the sentries and began shooting. One of the sentries took a bullet in the chest and toppled over, but before Digger could fire again, the other sentry blasted him with his laser. Digger staggered a few steps and then fell over. While the sentry was watching to make sure Digger fell, Lt. Hawkh took aim and shot the sentry between the eyes.
With both sentries down, the platoon was back on the move and soon were scampering under the fence. Along the fence they dropped a dozen pellet mines that looked like common gravel. When the two sentries reached the fence and stepped on them they exploded, killing them instantly.
Back at the copter, Digger’s lifeless body was lifted aboard. Lt. Hawkh looked at him sadly. He’d given his life saving his platoon. As the copter flew low along the treetops toward the Doral Mountains, he wondered how Tam had done at Gallion.
At Gallion Tam faced a more difficult situation. The perimeter of the base was under heavy guard. He was glad he had the jumpers rather than Digger, as digging a tunnel was out of the question. The problem was what to do with the guards who came by frequently and not on any particular schedule. For this problem Tam turned to the telekinetic mutant. When the first two-man patrol walked by he mentally applied pressure to the soldier’s chest, causing him to feel like he was going to have a heart attack. He turned white and let out a gurgling sound. His partner grabbed him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I can’t breathe.”
“Okay. I’d better get you to the medic,” his partner said as he put an arm around him. Soon they were gone.
With the coast clear two soldiers also dressed in civilian worker uniforms jumped the fence and were out of sight almost immediately. When another patrol came Tam just watched them until they were gone. Meanwhile, the workers made it to the fuel storage tanks only to find them heavily guarded. They looked around for an alternative. They saw a pipe leading from the one storage tank to another. The end of it disappeared into the side of a concrete wall. They made their way over to the wall and were relieved to see they could work on the other side of it out of view of the guards. They quickly jumped the fence and began drilling.
After the contaminant had been injected into the pipe they realized the pipe was empty. They looked around for a valve. The valve would have to be opened or the contaminant wouldn’t make contact with the main fuel supply. When they finally spotted the valve, they were horrified to see it was right next to one of the guards. They’d have to create some kind of diversion to draw away the guard, but not one that would arouse too much suspicion.
After giving it some thought, one of them ran and picked up a large wrench. He took it and then jumped on top of the tank with a single bound and ran to the other side where he dropped it so it would make a loud bang. When the guard heard the noise he scrambled to his feet and ran to the other side of the tank. While he was gone the other soldier turned the valve and the fuel began to flow through it. The sentry found the wrench and looked up but saw nothing. He shrugged and went back to his post.
When the jumpers returned to the fence they notified Tam that they’d successfully carried out their mission. When the next patrol came by, the telekinetic mutant caused one of them to trip and smash his head against a rock. This, of course, necessitated another trip to the medic who hopefully wouldn’t wonder about the two incidents on the perimeter until it was too late.
The next day there was a noticeable absence of TGA fighters in the sky allowing the 1st Airborne to finish off the last of the hovertanks and the infantry to engage the enemy on an equal footing. By late in the day the TGA’s northern front had been pushed back ten kylods and the 3r
d Army had driven a wedge straight through the rear lines, cutting the TGA armies from its supply lines.
Leek was ecstatic with the news. He was with Lorin in the command center talking to one of the their division commanders when he noticed something strange on one of the VCs that was monitoring the battlefield. He stopped in mid sentence and squinted at the image, trying to figure out what it was.
“What in the blazes is that?” Leek asked.
”What is it, Commander?” Lorin asked as she approached the monitor.
“There’s something in the sky. It looks like a giant flock of birds. There’s thousands of them. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Oh, my God!” Lorin screamed. “They’re falling from the sky. What are they?”
There was a low-pitched hissing sound coming from the receiver and then screams and sounds of panic.
“They’re snakes. They’re attacking everyone!” Leek yelled.
Hisszz. Hisszz. “Stop them. Don’t let it in!” an unidentified voice exclaimed. . . . “Ahh! God!! No! Ohhh! Ohhh!”
The transmission went dead. Lorin looked at Leek horrified at what they had just seen and heard. Leek closed his eyes and linked with Threebeard, so he could see first hand what was happening. The general was running for his transport vehicle. Little snake-like creatures were hitting the ground and then suddenly attacking anyone who got close to it. The victims, once bitten, began to writhe and convulse in utter and unbearable pain. Leek remembered the video from the press conference. Somehow, Videl had been able to unleash this new weapon and he hadn’t exaggerated its effectiveness. The defense minister got in his vehicle, slammed the door, and looked out the bullet-proof window.
Leek saw that the little vipers were attacking the hood of Threebeard’s car. It suddenly occurred to him that these little monsters were guided by some sort of heat-seeking technology—heat-seeking vipers with a venom not only lethal but engineered to cause a slow, painful death. What kind of a monster would even conceive of such a weapon?
“Are you all right, Threebeard?” Leek thought.
“Physically, I’m in one piece, but I don’t know about my mental stability right now. I’ve never seen so much human misery at one time as I’ve seen today. I’m going back to my command post to sort this out. Contact me later when I’m better prepared to discuss what happened here today.”
Leek acquiesced and severed the link. Lorin was staring at him. He told her what he’d seen. She gasped and covered her face with her hands. Reports started to come in from the front lines. The vipers had been dropped from a high-altitude bomber, perhaps because the Loyalists controlled the skies. Strong winds had blown as many of the vipers over the enemy’s own troops as had hit the Loyalists, so the death and suffering was felt by both sides. From a short-term standpoint the vipers were a disaster, but Leek knew the long-term effect on the morale of the Loyalist troops would be devastating. He wondered if he’d ever get his troop out on the battlefield again.
For the next several days the battlefield was quiet. Both sides were still reeling from the last battle and tending to their dead and wounded. During that time scientists at Loyalist headquarters in Shini had dissected and reverse engineered one of the vipers. It was a small mechanical snake with short stumpy wings that allowed it to glide through the air rather than just drop. The technology that the scientists hadn’t seen before was the heat-seeking magnet device in each of the vipers’ heads. An object generating heat would attract the viper. If there were no heat-generating objects around it would lie on the ground in wait. The first time somebody or something strolled by, it would activate itself and attack the person or object. This made the weapon even more powerful, for it made a virtual minefield out of any area on which it was dropped.
Videl Lai was ecstatic over the performance of his new vipers. It didn’t matter that he’d killed thousands of his own troops. They were acceptable collateral damage. The vipers had put fear in the heart of every Loyalist soldier and made thousands of them pay for their traitorous acts. That evening after the battle was over he had Luci brought to his office so he could brag about his new weapon and make her watch videos of the battle. She watched in horror for nearly a kyloon as one Loyalist soldier after another was attacked by the vipers and immediately forced to endure excruciating pain and suffering. When she tried to look away Videl turned her head back to the camera forcing her to watch every horrible moment of the ordeal. Finally, he turned off the VC and stood up.
“So, I’m afraid it’s time to say goodbye. I had hoped it would be different, but since you have been hopelessly brainwashed by Peter Turner and the other Loyalist scum you must now suffer the consequences of your traitorous acts.”
Luci didn’t respond.
“Alright. Stand up.”
Luci looked up at the Chancellor and then reluctantly stood up.
“Take off your dress! You won’t need it in Pritzka Prison.”
Luci didn’t move but just glared at the Chancellor. After a tik he grabbed her arm and began ripping the dress off her. Luci screamed but nobody came to her aid.
“Put a sack dress on her,” Videl commanded.
Luci’s chamber maid stepped forward with a stiff white dress. The maid and a soldier put it over her head.
“This is all the clothing you will need in prison. When your baby is born he’ll be taken away and you will never see him again. And don’t think your beloved Liberator will come to rescue you. No one has ever escaped from Pritzka Prison.”
“No. No. I’ve changed my mind,” Luci said suddenly panic stricken. “I’ll do whatever you say! Just don’t take my baby.”
“It’s too late. Take her away!” the Chancellor commanded and walked out of the room.
Two soldiers rudely escorted Luci out of the Chancellor’s office and down to a waiting prison transport vehicle. After she was lifted aboard her hands and feet were bound and she was strapped into a chair. It was cold outside and there was no heat in back of the vehicle. After a few kylods she began to shake violently from the cold and her hands became numb.
“I’m freezing,” she complained to the guard who was dressed in a heavy coat, but he ignored her.
She felt sudden cramping in her stomach. “Ahhh! Oh, God! Help me!”
The guard ignored her.
When they got to Pritzka Prison she was escorted to an intake room and processed along with hundreds of other woman. After they were done with her the warden and two guards paraded her through the cell blocks so that all the inmates could see that the TGA had captured the Liberator’s mate. When they finally got to her cell they opened the door, pushed her inside and slammed it shut.
When she was alone she turned and took in her new abode. It was dark, cold and stunk like a sewer. There was a bed without a mattress and a toilet with no seat. Then she saw a rat staring at her from the corner of her cell. She screamed.
Commander Lanzia decided if the war was to continue he’d have to take drastic measures to make his troops feel safe again—at least as safe as a soldier expects to be when he’s facing the enemy. To do this he quickly proposed measures to ensure another viper attack wouldn’t be nearly as deadly as the last. He insisted that all uniforms be upgraded to a puncture-proof material that the mechanical fangs couldn’t penetrate. He also instructed the scientists working for the Loyalists to come up with a decoy shield that could be deployed to lure the vipers away from the troops. Finally, he challenged his scientist to come up with their own viper, an improved version that included a guidance system that would allow each snake to change course to allow for wind currents and defenses employed against it. He called this new weapon the super viper.
Twenty-one days later General Bratfort launched several attacks on the 3rd Army and re-established his supply lines. He was clearly preparing for a new offensive. New hovertanks were seen moving towar
d the front lines. The air force was back in the air and had reclaimed control of the skies. New infantry divisions were moved to the front lines to replace the ones decimated by the Loyalists’ attacks and the TGA’s own errant vipers.
The 3rd Army had dwindled in size by one-third due to heavy casualties sustained since its counterattack. The defection rate was still good, otherwise the 3rd Army would likely have been out of business. Many TGA soldiers, however, were appalled by the use of an untested weapon that killed as many TGA troops as it had the enemy’s. Many realized Videl Lai and their commanders had little concern for their lives.
Lorin attacked the reckless use of the Viper on the new Liberation Network and called for TGA soldiers worldwide to defect. All over Tarizon Loyalist units began to form and secretly train for an eventual confrontation with their local TGA units. The largest and fastest growing units were in Lower Azollo and particularly Queenland, which locals claimed to be the home of the Liberator even though Leek Lanzia had never lived there. The logic was that his official record showed him to be from Queenland so, when the war was over, he no doubt would make Queenland his home.
Threebeard used this lull in the war to enlist and train new recruits and defectors. Every day soldiers were arriving to replace those who’d been killed in the previous battles and by the time hostilities began anew, the Loyalist Army was actually stronger than it ever had been. More importantly, however, shortly after the viper attack the Loyalist army opened up in northern Rigimol its first manufacturing plant for T-47s and within ten days was turning out ten new fighters a day.
When the TGA launched their next general assault they drove nearly fifty kylods into central Rigimol before their hovertanks were destroyed and the attack was stopped. Threebeard counterattacked, but the revitalized Loyalist forces could bend but not break the TGA’s front line. They shifted back and forth slightly for several days, each side sustaining heavy casualties, until the battlefield became silent under an unofficial cease-fire.
Time, however, was on the side of the Loyalists. The overall size of the TGA army was declining, as well as its morale. Threebeard and Commander Lanzia knew eventually they would have the upper hand and would be able to drive the TGA off the continent. They just needed to stall and buy more time. Videl Lai also knew time was on the Loyalists’ side, so he decided to play one last deadly card that he hoped would end the Loyalist movement once and for all.